Name: Carolyn Miller
Location: Hancock Park — Los Angeles, California
Size: 2700 square feet
Years lived in: 5 1/2 years — rented
Born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles, Carolyn has a love for all that this bustling city encompasses, from the diversity and culture to the helicopters and constant sounds buzzing all around.
As a writer and filmmaker, Carolyn does a lot of work from home — she's created her surroundings to be a place of inspiration. Her home feels very relaxed and eclectic yet still thoughtfully designed. Her style and interests are shown throughout her furniture, accessories, art and lighting. She has spent a great deal of time and patience finding the pieces in her home by attending estate sales and online auctions, as well as hunting on Craigslist and eBay.
As I stepped into her home and passed the beautiful traditional old European mural lining the entryway I felt it was like I was being transported to a different place. Even the hustle and bustle of the busy LA streets that I just navigated seemed to have disappeared.
One of the best tips I got from her (as I was wiping my drool off the floor after spotting Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans photographs) was that you can get high res scans from the Library of Congress and then print them out on archival paper. It's little tricks like these, coupled with her great design sense that make this home a Los Angeles gem.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Relaxed bohemian meets mid century glam
Inspiration: Thom Filicia, Waldo Fernandez, Amalfi Coast, Antonioni, Elle Decor, Joan Mitchell
Favorite Element: The empty canvas - we've got big plain rooms and neutral walls that let you try things out
Biggest Challenge: Lighting. We're the bottom floor, the back rooms can feel like tombs, trees block windows, there's no recessed lighting.
Proudest DIY: My first chair project (there have been many since) - it got the obsession started. I found her in an alley, stripped her, stained her, recovered her in white ostrich - she went from trash to glam. And redoing all the trim in the living room in a high gloss white, it brought so much light and modernity into the room.
What Friends Say: Every time I come here, I'm going to find something new.
Best Advice: I find that artwork is so personal and is such an extravagance that it is best not rush it. Save it for last. There are some amazing resources I've found along the way. The Library of Congress has high res scans of Farm Security Administration photos during WW2, which include works by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. I had them printed on German etching paper. Also Hagemann in Germany still sells all those great botany charts and will ship them directly to you.
Resources of Note:
LIVING ROOM
• I got my Finn Juhl Diplomat chair off ebay. He was an absolute mess, far gone from his days of grandeur in the lobby of the UN (supposedly that's what Juhl made the chairs for).
• Ikat Fabric Thom Felicia
• Coffee Table & Club chairs are Pottery Barn
• able Lamp Gina Sarfatti
• Three globe lamp is Koch & Lowy from an estate sale
DINING ROOM
• The curtain fabric is Thomas Paul's Plume Peacock
• Dining table is William Sonoma Home
• The chandelier is Italian 1950s
• The lamps are Laurel of ebay
• The chairs are from Orange
DEN
• The coffee table is Karl Springer
• Rattan chairs are alley finds
• The couch is from 22 Bond Street
OTHER INFORMATION
• Live Auctioneers - I am obsessed with online auctions and estate sales
• Artnet Auctions - I bought my mother a Massimo Vitalli a few months ago
• Craigslist - I troll often
• One Kings Lane
• Tara Home - an amazing warehouse on La Cienega
• Lawson Fenning - just to drool and be inspired
• Empiric Studio on Beverly
• Old Friends Antiques in Canoga Park - Alan is an expert furniture restorer and a superlative human being. His prices are very fair and worth the haul from West Hollywood out to Canga Park. He knows old wood.
• FSA website
• Botany Charts - Hagemann
Thanks, Caroyln!
Images: Alysha Findley
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Just beautiful.
I love that entryway with mural and green door. I like the simplicity and warmth here.
I miss some of my places in LA I lived in, those open more squarish rooms where the furniture has space to breathe.
Love it, that living room is fantastic!
This home has such a good vibe. Also, I love seeing a living room arranged for conversation rather than the sightline for a TV.
I really like this - esp. the pink bathroom! I guess I must have a different idea of what "bohemian" style is, as I am struggling to understand why this space is labeled that way.
I love the yellow artwork above the mirrored table. What is it? Source please?
My favorite thing about this is how she worked with vintage tile in the bathroom and the kitchen (and also that standard kind of ugly flooring in there) and it still looks lovely.
i have an obsession with chairs, and this has certainly fueled it. every chair in this tour is gorgeous. not to mention the beautiful pattern of all the textiles. definitely a great example of a modern bohemian home.
So jealous of the bedroom! It's giant and that biology chart above the bed is great!
I really like a lot of this house, and I especially like that someone besides me appreciates a slightly retro/dated pink bathroom for what it is!
Also, love the planets hovering around the living room. Lots of nice touches like that in this tour!
I don't personally see this style as bohemian at all, though. I think maybe that word is so overused it doesn't have the same meaning it started out with.
Amazing....
where is the mirror in the dining room from? Love it!
I agree with the previous commenters who wonder why this space is called "bohemian." I don't even see it as "glam" (by the way, this is NOT an insult -- "glam" calls to mind a very specific look when applied to interiors... lots of gold accents, mirrors and velvet).
This is a lovely space and its owner picked great mid-century pieces. The rug in the second photo is really stunning!
Lovely home but probably too tidy and uncluttered to be considered bohemian.
I can almost imagine Betty Draper in a couple of those photos.
This tour gave me cold feet because it knocked my socks off!
I like her because she refers to her furniture (and no doubt her plants) as "he" and "she." Me too. :)
Love love love it! Love the chairs and lamps everywhere, the mix of textures and calming colour palette. Nice work!
@offbeatboutique.biz - I don't think home has to be cluttered or have a lot of elements going on to fit into a Bohemian style. I've seen homes that are quite sparse in furniture and style elements and yet they are still Bohemian. Doesn't really have much to do with tidiness or clutter, imo. That would just be untidy or cluttered...in any style!
YES! You retained/restored the kitchen and fabulous pink bathroom - wonderful, just wonderful . . . .
This is one of my favorite house tours ever. I love the colors and the chairs and how eclectic yet cohesive it is! Love it.
Yet another favourite house tour.
Very Very Nice!!
I would love to know where the mirror comes from. Thanks.
I'm curious about how the green door is mounted. The frame seems to be for a rectangular door. Perhaps the frame is cut away in a circular pattern at the top?
I love the house.
Beautiful home. Can you source the orange/black/cream rug at the foot of the mirrored table that appears in the 7th photo. It's stunning.
Wow!!!!!! Very nice and clean...looks very cozy,,, I like how you coordinated all the colors to blend together for all the rooms,,,,everything is put in its right place,,,and lot of open spaces too..Not so overdone with clutter and just beautiful accesseries combining together,,, thanks for sharing..
It's amazing the amount of restraint you've maintained in such a large place, without feeling the need to cram it full. It would be too easy to fill all the space with...stuff...
It's huge and feels comfortably spacious.
Very nice house.
This is a beautiful, stylish home. Don't want to be downer, but the Farm Security Administration photographs are LOC documents of rural poverty for the most part in the Depression but also WW2. Maybe a little voyeuristic to have them displayed as art in such a palatial house? Printed on German etching paper no less!?
PS I like the chandelier in the dining room
@ Kathryn1123 --
That picture with the green door is a little confusing - I thought the same thing. Looks like the fancy green door is the front door, and it's open (but it opens against a wall with a regular door in it).
Bohemian and Glam don't usually go together! But that describes it perfectly. I see why other posters weren't seeing it, but I actually think that nails the look. Great place!
Wow, really lovely!
I love all your framed art/photography. The large matting around the prints look really nice, too.
Where did you find those beautiful pillows on the couch?
can you tell us more about the muted striped blanket/throw at the foot of your bed?
I likey!
I'm having trouble find a website for Hagemann prints. Can you give me some assistance, I would love to buy one.
I love Carolyn's suggestion to buy photographs from the Library of Congress. I also recommend exploring your local historical society's visual archives. In my state, the Wisconsin Historical Society has a massive Visual Materials Collection. You can get archival prints copies of photographs, prints, advertising, posters, maps, etc.
Buying from your historical society supports the work they do. (Yeah, I'm a booster.)
You have a beautiful home, Carolyn, and exquisite taste!
This place is awesome...Carolyn you have amazing taste and great ideas for decorating with a budget. Thanks for the inspiration.
Love the house bones, not crazy about the furniture, I don't care for rattan and wire even though you certainly warmed it up with pillows and such. Homes like that always feel like they should have more substantial feeling pieces to me. The art work ....wonderful.
Wow, this is well done. Spare but glamorous.